Naked Truths in the Footlights
by mercy-angel-09
Summary: The new and improved "The Boy in the Iceberg" is running on Ember Island. The Gaang is up for a little wacky time wasting nonsense. After all, it can't be as bad as the original, right? - Originally written for Zutara Month 2017, cross posted on AO3.


*looks at the date* I'm only three months late posting this here...

Also posted on AO3. On time. Anyway...

I kept thinking about a more "factually accurate" version of _The Boy in the Iceberg_ that would run AFTER Ozai was defeated and Zuko was crowned Fire Lord and what, exactly, that would entail. In true Ember Island Players fashion it's a train wreck, and their attempts to make Zuko look good don't actually work. Meanwhile, two audience members have a fun house mirror held up to their lives and relationships and are a little startled by what they see. It wasn't going to be a Zutara Month entry...but since Ember Island was a prompt and I'd already written most of the story I was like, "Eh, why not?"

* * *

"This," Zuko announces as they enter the theater, "is a terrible idea."

Of course nobody is listening, but that's nothing new. Fire Lord or not, his friends aren't exactly the type to listen to him. Well, no, that's not entirely correct. They listen to him on matters of state because it turns out he's got a pretty good political head on his shoulders, but when it comes to how they spend their time, they tend to ignore him.

"Zuko, buddy," Sokka says as he slings his arm around Zuko's shoulders, "this is a _fantastic_ idea."

"Anyone else remember the last time we saw this play?" Zuko asks because honestly they should. He adjusts his cloak and looks around to make sure that they haven't been noticed. Aang is also in disguise because otherwise they're endlessly harassed.

"But the poster said that this is the new and revised edition! To be more factually accurate!" Aang points out.

"Wait, how bad was the first one?" Mai asks because honestly, it could not have been that bad.

"We all died in the end," Zuko answers flatly.

Ty Lee stops, eyes wide. "Wait, we all died?"

"I think you two just spent the rest of your lives in prison," Katara says with a shrug. "But the rest of us died. Special emphasis was put on Zuko and Aang's deaths."

Ty Lee shudders. "Maybe we shouldn't…"

"What, and miss this train wreck?" Mai says, shaking her head. "No way. The mocking factor alone probably makes the price of admission worth it."

They settle themselves in a box in the back, nearly the same one from five years ago. A lot has changed since then. Suki and Sokka are going strong, but Aang and Katara's relationship fizzled when conflicting desires reared their ugly heads and Mai and Zuko found that their life paths had diverged in such a way they couldn't overcome. Still, they all remained friends and once a year returned to Ember Island for much needed vacation time.

This was just the first year where the new and improved version of _The Boy in the Iceberg_ was playing.

Curiosity was too much. Plus Mai and Ty Lee hadn't been able to attend the first run and therefore had no idea what they were getting into.

The first act of the play is relatively unchanged. Actor Sokka's jokes are marginally better – apparently provided by the man himself – and Zuko's characterization is tweaked to portray his inner conflict.

Katara nudges him in the side. "Inner conflict, huh?"

Zuko groans. "My scar is still on the wrong side."

"That's the hill you're going to die on?" Katara asks. "Not how they've rewritten you so you're wangsting dramatically about your conflicting loyalty to your father and your nation's honor?"

"Yeah, I didn't think that happened until act three," Sokka butts in. Mai snickers.

Zuko grumbles something rude under his breath that makes the rest of the box break into quiet laughter. The effects for the battle of the North Pole are marginally better, Iroh is shown heroically standing up for the Moon Spirit to Zhao – who is booed by crowd – and Sokka's eyes are watering all over again when Yue dies.

Intermission is a blessing.

"I fail to see what they changed except updating a few effects," Zuko grouses.

"I'm still played by a woman," Aang groans. "You can obviously tell she has breasts."

Toph cackles. "I hope they didn't change my casting."

"Well seeing as there's little difference between a twelve year old girl and a grown man in the chest department, that's hardly a problem," Katara sasses.

Everyone laughs, even Zuko who tries to hide it behind an undignified cough.

"Laugh it up," Toph mumbles. "Not all of us can be stacked like Won Shi Tong's library."

Katara's face heats up and she self-consciously crosses her arms over her chest. While she's certainly curvier than the rest of the girls in their party, she's not that busty. She doesn't think, anyway. And certainly not as busty as the actress who's playing her.

Act two starting ends all sniping. Toph's casting remains the same – in fact they're pretty sure it's the same guy from the original run. Aang checks the playbill and confirms it. In fact most of the cast is original.

"Is that good or bad?" Ty Lee asks.

"Wait and find out," Katara answers.

Sure enough Ozai's Angels show up and Ty Lee lets out a horrified squeal that she's being played by a woman who looks to be twice Ty Lee's actual age. Mai sucks in a breath. "What's with that wig?" Mai asks. "My hair doesn't look that bad, does it?"

"Well Katara's dress never showed that much cleavage or leg," Zuko points out, "so I'm thinking their wardrobe department has definitely taken some liberties."

"I look like some kind of mutant rodent," Mai says, eyes wide in horror.

The play continues to move along and then they reach Ba Sing Se. Jet's death is still completely ambiguous ("Seriously," Sokka says, "how do we not know the answer to this already?"), and then the scene from the crystal catacombs.

Zuko and Katara exchange an awkward glance.

"They didn't change it," Zuko whispers in horror.

"Oh spirits why didn't they change it?" Katara whispers back.

Something did happen, but certainly not this lovey dovey confession of feelings.

"Pretty sure the only thing you felt for me when I captured you was pure hatred," Zuko says and Katara giggles.

"That, and how funny you looked with no hair." She eyes him and then Actor Zuko on stage. "Looks like your real head of hair has caught up to your stage persona."

Zuko sighs. "Shut up."

When Zuko chooses Azula over Iroh in Ba Sing Se, it's followed by a lengthy monologue on the ship headed back to the Fire Nation of Zuko wangsting some more about his duty to his father, or his nation's honor.

"This doesn't make me feel better about any of this," Zuko sighs.

Katara reaches over and pats his back. "I don't think you were ever supposed to see this."

"I don't think any of us were supposed to see this," Mai adds.

The second intermission is a blessing. They sit on the steps that lead to their box in silent contemplation. Well, most of them. Sokka, in true Sokka fashion, is stuffing his face with snacks, Suki occasionally swiping something and then grinning when he gets indignant.

"I thought they said they changed this," Zuko finally says.

Aang pulls out the playbill, his eyes raking over it. "Let me see, apparently it's been updated to better reflect the actual events of the day of the comet, but some liberties were taken to make the story more dramatic." He blinks at the parchment in his hand. "What does that even mean?"

Mai snorts. "Probably more of Zuko's conflicted feelings."

"Ugh, they were bad enough the first time around," he groans as he buries his face in his hands, "I really don't need relive them like this."

He's spared from any further rumination on the subject when two women walk by, giggling and swooning over the romance.

"Excuse me," Ty Lee cuts in, "but what romance?"

The two women giggle brightly, their smiles widening. "The romance between Master Katara and Fire Lord Zuko of course!"

"Excuse me?" Sokka asks. "That can't be right."

They roll their eyes. "Well you're a guy, I doubt you'd get it," the first one says. "Really, with them starting out as enemies…"

"And being masters of opposing elements…"

"All wrapped up in some absolutely delicious unresolved sexual tension…" The women swoon and then dissolve into giggling again.

"Their auras are pretty complimentary," Ty Lee muses.

The women squeal as they grab Ty Lee's hands. "Right? Right! They're so made for each other!"

"Their kids would be adorable," Ty Lee says with a sly grin. Of course she's teasing them for teasing's sake but she'd definitely open to the idea of playing matchmaker.

"Oh, imagine how forbidden it must be. She's the princess of the South, he the Fire Lord bound by duty to his country," the first woman sighs.

"Let's face it, the sex between them would probably be epic," the second woman says with a wicked smile.

"Dare I say, steamy?" the first woman says, waggling her eyebrows.

An odd noise, between a laugh and choke, comes from Sokka. He's turning an odd shade of red but the women just shrug.

"Anyway," the first woman continues on, "there's a really huge portion of the country that wouldn't mind seeing Master Katara become the next Fire Lady. I mean politically it's a pretty solid move but anyone who's seen Master Katara and Fire Lord Zuko together can tell there's something there."

"Sure it's not just wishful thinking?" Mai puts in.

The two women exchange a glance. "Oh honey," the second woman says, shaking her head, "even if they haven't noticed nearly everyone else has."

A bell chimes and the women perk up. "Ooh, act three is starting, the best part! Bye!"

Aang looks bemused, but he's silent as he files in after the others to the box, leaving Katara and Zuko in mortification on the steps in the hallway.

"Should we just leave or…?" Katara asks.

Zuko sighs. "We might as well see it through to the end. At least this time I'm not going to die at the end, right?"

There's a lot more emphasis on Actor Zuko's internal struggle in the palace while the Actor Gaang gets into goofy shenanigans in the Fire Nation.

"You didn't really throw a dance party, did you?" Zuko asks.

"It was all Aang's idea," Katara answers. "It was kinda fun though."

Zuko rolls his eyes.

The day of the eclipse is ridiculously overblown. Actress Aang and Actress Katara still agree they're just friends. Actor Zuko dramatically – real Zuko's noticing a theme here – tells off his father, to cheers for a change.

"Did you really say all of that?" Katara asks after Actor Zuko has redirected Actor Ozai's lightning and fled the scene.

"Not that exactly," Zuko says, "but pretty close." There's a little hint of pride in his voice as he remembers.

Sokka's hands land on Zuko's shoulders and give them a squeeze. "Zuko, buddy, that was _epic_."

"Did your face really end up in my sister's boobs?" Zuko asks.

Apparently Actress Azula had distracted Actor Sokka by shoving his face in her boobs while Actress Aang and Actor Toph battled the Actor Dai Li.

"Ugh, no. I mean they were close but that was definitely not a fun experience seeing as she was trying to, you know, kill me," Sokka answers.

The Western Air Temple brings back some memories, and definitely not pleasant ones. Actress Katara is, perhaps, even colder towards Actor Zuko than Katara ever was to Zuko. All couched in terms of him having broken her heart back in Ba Sing Se of course. Actor Aang's firebending training is glossed over – obviously they don't know about the dragons on the Sun Warriors – and the action moves on to Boiling Rock. A lot of creative liberties are taken – "I don't remember my make up running quite that much," Mai quips dryly – and then when the action moves back the Western Air Temple things get tense between Actress Katara and Actor Zuko.

"Don't you see," Actor Zuko says dramatically – because he cannot do anything not dramatically, it seems, "I did it for you!"

"As noble as it was breaking my father out of prison," Actress Katara says with a haughty sniff, "that doesn't undo you breaking my heart back in Ba Sing Se."

Sokka leans forward. "You didn't help me break Dad out just to get on Katara's good side, did you?"

The rest of the box chuckles. It's a legitimate question.

Zuko sighs. "I went with you because you're an idiot who was going to go even though I told you not to and frankly if something happened to you Katara would only hate me more. I didn't expect to get on her good side; I expected to keep her from hating me even more."

Katara winces. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Zuko shrugs.

The action then shifts to the hunt for the man who killed Katara's mother. The audience is whispering and giggling and it sounds like everyone woman in the audience is sitting on the edge of her seat.

The reason why is revealed to be the dramatic making up scene, where Actress Katara finally forgave Actor Zuko. Complete with a very intense make out session.

The audience goes wild.

"Oh spirits," Katara whispers, her face flaring with heat.

Zuko can only sit speechless next to her.

Toph is absolutely cackling. "This has to be way better than what actually happened!"

When the day of the comet comes, Actress Aang communes with the spirit world and learns the secret of energybending. Actress Katara and Actor Zuko, making googoo eyes at each other whole time, face off against Actress Azula.

Somehow, despite being touted as the more accurate version, Actor Zuko still dies. ("HOOOOOONOOOOOORRRR!")

"Why am I dead?" Zuko blurts as Mai gently pats his back.

"I think it's so Katara can raise you from the dead," Ty Lee says as Actress Katara gives a tearful speech about how she won't let even death part them and then honest to spirits raises Actor Zuko from the dead.

It's a friggin' miracle.

This is followed by even more making out.

"How is this better than what actually happened?" Katara asks. "What actually happened was very interesting!"

"Why did I still have to die?" Zuko moans.

Actor Zuko's coronation is ridiculously overdone, and just when it seems like the play should end – Actor Ozai and Actress Azula have been defeated, Actor Zuko is now the Fire Lord, the world is headed for peace – a scene that's apparently taking place on a balcony of the palace starts.

"I don't remember this," Zuko mutters.

The spotlight is on Actress Katara, who's leaning against a column.

"I'm afraid, this is it," Actor Zuko says as he walks on stage. "There's no way for us to be together."

Actress Katara's lip quivers. "It's how it must be. Separated by our elements, our countries, our duties…fate is cruel." She breaks down into tears. Again.

"I never cried that much!" Katara snarls and Aang puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Oh my love," Actor Zuko says as he pulls her into his arms, "I will never stop loving you. Nobody will ever replace you in my heart. Nobody will ever understand what we've gone through."

Zuko and Katara exchange a look at the last line because hot damn that is just a little too close to the mark.

The scene fades to black and the curtain drops and the audience leaps to its feet clapping and cheering wildly. Except a box in the very back where eight people sit in stunned silence for a variety of reasons.

The walk back to the royal beach house is quiet. There's not much to say to what they've witnessed. In some respects it was better – it was certainly more complimentary to Zuko's character – but in other aspects…

"Was the first version that bad?" Mai asks.

"I honestly couldn't tell you," Sokka answers. "Zuko, please tell me the liquor cabinet is stocked."

"The liquor cabinet is stocked," Zuko says.

The booze takes the edge off the play. The ending was happier than the original – they're all alive after all – but the glaring factual errors are, well, _glaring_. Eventually they all go their separate directions to bed, except Katara who heads down to the beach to clear her head, and Zuko who decides a few more drinks are necessary.

After a while he wanders down to the beach to find Katara sitting in the sand, watching the moonlight on the surf. Without a word he sits down next to her.

"That," she says softly, "was awful."

"I think it may have been worse than the original," he agrees.

Silence falls between them, both content to stare at out at the surf until Zuko realizes they they'll have to talk about it eventually. And they certainly weren't going to do it while they had audience.

"They did manage to get one thing right," he says, his voice low. He's not even sure Katara can hear him over the waves breaking on the shore.

But he needn't worry. She can hear him just fine. "Yeah, they did."

"Do you think that's part of the reason why our relationships failed?" Zuko asks because he has to know. Has he really felt something for her all along and been so far in denial about it that it takes a terrible play about their lives to make him see it?

"I think," she says slowly, "it might have bene part of it."

Zuko hums as he mulls it over. There had been things he'd tried to explain to Mai that she just hadn't quite understood. And perhaps, unfairly, he had snapped that Katara would have.

Katara thinks that she imagined some of the tension with Aang, but perhaps maybe not. There were a lot of factors there, first and foremost Aang realizing that he'd been using Katara as an emotional crutch since she'd broken him out of the iceberg and really that's not a good foundation for any kind of relationship let alone a romantic one. Still, more than one argument had ended with her storming off while saying, "You know Zuko would understand this!"

"You are," he says, trying to wrap his mind around his complicated feelings for the woman sitting next to him, "someone that I care for. You're one of my best friends. I didn't even have friends until I joined your group. I…can talk to you. About anything. You don't try to mother me, you don't tell me to deal with it on my own or just get over it. You listen, you offer advice if you have any, and if you don't you try and help me work through whatever is tangling me up in knots."

She laughs. "That's because Sokka says I'm nosy and can't mind my own business."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing, considering your line of work," Zuko says, half of his mouth pulling into a smile.

"Yes, well, natural born ambassador," she says with a grin.

"Your compassion is your strength," he says as he grabs her hand. "For so long I was taught to believe that my compassion was a weakness. Like an idiot I believed it, too."

"I think," she says, cocking her head, "that's why I was so mad about what happened in Ba Sing Se. I saw you, Zuko. Not the angry prince, trying to smother his humanity, but the boy." She sighs. "In retrospect I can understand why you made the choice you did." She levels a glare at him and he looks sheepish. "Doesn't mean it was the right choice, mind you, but I know why you did it. And you eventually realized what you'd done wrong and fixed it. I was just being stubborn."

"You wouldn't be you otherwise," he teases and she gives him a good natured elbow to the side in response.

"Now what I don't get," Katara says, "is why your people like me so much. What have I done to warrant that kind of admiration?"

"You've been yourself, probably," Zuko shrugs. He's really trying to ignore the fact that Katara has not removed her hand from his, but it's proving to be impossible.

She hums as she considers his words. Idly her thumb rubs against the back of his hand. Her relationship with Zuko and his people has always been complex. Starting with her first experiences with the people and finding that the citizens of the Fire Nation were just ordinary people taught to believe terrible things, to recognizing that Zuko had been faced with an impossible dilemma and had made the choice, at the time, to do what was best for him. Now she considers him one of her closest friends, someone she can talk to about anything.

Out of the corner of her eye she studies his profile. His unscarred side is facing her, emphasizing his high cheekbones, the slope of his nose, the curve of his brow. She's not blind, she knows that Zuko's attractive but she's never really taken the time to truly appreciate that. Oh, but she's appreciating it now. The way his hair, half pulled back into a crownless topknot, spills down his back and over his shoulder, a few wisps escaping at his temples. The way the moonlight highlights his bone structure and musculature so that he looks like a statue rather than a breathing person. And she wonders, briefly, if Zuko sees Katara the woman and not Katara the friend.

The answer to her unanswered question is yes, but in his case he's noticed Katara the woman at usually the most inconvenient times. Like during official state functions, or when they were both seeing someone else. But now, _now_ , they're finally at a point where they're free to notice. Or, in Zuko's case, act.

When Katara turns to face him, her mouth opening so she can say something, Zuko swoops in and slants his mouth over hers. She lets out a small squeak of surprise before she fists her hands in his tunic and pulls him in closer.

They tumble back into the sand, mouths eagerly exploring, but the minute Zuko's hand drifts to the waistband of her pants she stops him. "Wait, Zuko," she pants, breathless from the kissing. The really great kissing.

He pulls back, frowning. "What?"

"Beach. Sand. Sand in places nobody should ever have sand," she says and he manages a small smile.

"Right, we've got perfectly good beds back in the house," he says as he smooths his hand over his hair. His topknot is slightly askew courtesy of Katara's hands, clothes slightly rumpled.

"Unfortunately those perfectly good beds are surrounded by people also in perfectly good beds," Katara points out. "And I don't think either of us wants an audience."

Zuko nods. Tomorrow morning would be very awkward indeed facing down her brother and their exes. Especially since Zuko has a feeling that Katara's not the quiet type. He hopes she's not the quiet type. He wants to hear her enjoy it.

"But I don't have anywhere to be after our vacation is over," she says with a sly smile, full of lascivious promise.

"So, you could," Zuko says, pretending to look very serious and thoughtful, "theoretically, mind you, come back to the palace when everyone else goes home."

"I could," she says as she stands.

Zuko gets to his feet as well, pulling her against him. She reaches up, threading her fingers through his hair. "And, you know, with most of the nobility away from the city for the summer, government business is slow so I'll have plenty of time to…show you things."

"Mmm, sounds good," Katara practically purrs and part of her is horrified by her wanton behavior but another part of her just doesn't care. There's nothing holding them back now, and if the reaction to their romance in that stupid play is any indication they certainly won't get any pushback from the general population.

The next afternoon they're in the city proper, taking in the sights. They give the playhouse a wide berth, and by midafternoon they're hungry and thirsty and stop into a local tavern to get refreshment. Katara goes up to the bar and places the order, indicating to put it on the Fire Lord's tab, when she notices the two women from the night before staring at her from down the bar. She inclines her head at them and the both blush and duck their heads, embarrassed for being caught staring. Rolling her eyes she picks her way through the mass of bodies to the table where everyone's seated, swapping stories of how they spent their day so far.

Katara looks around and notes that her chair has gone missing, probably grabbed by another patron when the others weren't paying attention. Before she can frown, or really voice her displeasure at this development, a strong arm hooks around her waist and she finds herself settled in Zuko's lap.

"Oh!" she breathes as she looks up at him, her face heating up because considering that they first time they even kissed was the night before, this is a huge display of public affection from him. And Zuko's really not into displays of public affection.

"Problem?" he murmurs.

"Well no, but those two women from the play last night are over at the bar and," she glances over and sighs, "they're staring."

Zuko hums, and then he smirks. "Then let's give them something to talk about."

Before Katara can even puzzle out what he means his mouth is on hers and the tavern practically explodes. Several women squeal and cheer. A few faint. Men start exchanging money. Sokka is making an odd strangled noise, Toph is cackling. Aang just smiles and shakes his head as Ty Lee swoons. Suki is reminding Sokka that he needs to breathe, in through the nose, out through the mouth.

Mai smirks. "I guess I win the pot."

Katara breaks the kiss and buries her face in Zuko's neck, all the while ignoring the fluttering feeling in her stomach at the pleasant rumble of his chuckles in his chest.

Jerk Lord.


End file.
